Currently: February

In an attempt to put off writing lesson plans for as long as possible, I thought I would complete this cute little "Currently..." for February. I am linking up with Oh Boy, Fourth Grade. :) Enjoy!

....and now to get on those lesson plans...just in case we don't get a snow day. 

Words from First Graders

This week, you would have heard these things in my classrooms....and it's only Tuesday!!

"Miss R., I'm going to stick my head in a pie."

A mentor teacher came into to model a read-aloud for me today. She asked the kids in the middle of the lesson she asked the kids who we were reading about. One of my kids responded with "Alvin Alien". We were reading about Alvin Ailey. HA!

Friday one of my lovely ladies told me that I need to go home after school and rest because I've been teaching all day. 

It's hard right now to hold on to the good parts when the stressful/hard parts are so much more. 

We need a snow day so very badly.

Hello, 2012!

I'm getting student #24 tomorrow. Technically, this will be the 27th kid I've had this year. 28..including our sweet friend who pushes in from the SpEd room.

I really have no idea how you teach 24 first graders in one room. It's 24 vs. 1. I realize I'm the teacher, but sheesh. Those are some crazy odds.

I feel like I'm going to be forced to pick and choose who I teach. How nutso is that!?!

We had a quick little grade level data meeting today to discuss our Early Star Literacy scores from December. The Superintendent of Elementary C & I said that our kiddos should at least fall into the "Transitional Reader" category at this point in the year. I still have 6 that are below that in "Emergent Reader". HOWEVER, just one month ago, I had TWELVE!! I cut that number in half! Woo!!

In looking at those 6...2 are ELL and 2 receive Tier 3/Title 1 instruction. So, really...the last two are my biggest concern. Is that not picking and choosing or what? Makes no sense to me.

Common Core Math is whoa. Whoever set the pacing for us this year was on some kinda crack or something. The windows for each unit are incredibly short. And with CC we HAVE to teach the skills to mastery. I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes every time we talk about it. I swear the people in positions of "leadership" have no common sense.

We read "How Full is Your Bucket?" yesterday. I had my kids draw another kid's name at random and then write or draw something to them that would fill their bucket. I heard lots of "I like his/her shoes". We got lots of new shoes for Christmas. :) Two of my favorites were "_____ is my hero" and "_____ is really funny". So sweet. One girl asked if she could write one to me. She said that she thought my nails were pretty. They're currently hot pink. haha! I may or may not be using the line "you're emptying my bucket" for my kids that won't stop talking or interrupting me. I've also had a few kids tell me they felt their buckets were empty, so we brainstormed why and how we could fix it. If this gets them to think about how their behaviors effect each other, then I have definitely succeeded this year.

Ooo...I can get them little buckets as an end of the year thing. Gotta remember that.

We're also writing New Year's Resolutions. Two of my sweet kiddos want to be better spellers. One wants to drink more milk. One wants to get better at driving her little play jeep. Quite a few want to be better helpers for their parents. We talked about ridiculous resolutions vs. realistic resolutions. Sky diving and driving cars are ridiculous resolutions for a 1st grader. They loved hearing that. I think this group is a lot more realistic with their resolutions than my kiddos were last year.

We also made a patchwork quilt square to make a classroom quilt. We talked about how each of us is different and unique but together we make a beautiful masterpiece....and how it takes teamwork to accomplish this. I surprisingly feel like we're pulling ourselves together.

I am going to try to figure out what to do with my life after this year. I am looking at gaining certification in another state to be closer to my parents. I also heard about a program there that works with children who have autism. They work with the students and families outside of the classroom. I have decided that the part I love most about my job is coming up with creative solutions to learning issues. It's rather daunting to do for 24 students. I feel I am most effective, creative, inspired and on my game when I work with less kids (as I'm sure most people feel). I am definitely going to be looking into this and consequently pursuing a Masters in Special Education.

We have a little more than 70 days until State testing. No snow days in sight. I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not. I'd like at least 1 or 2.

I am extremely thankful for the grace to teach. I am even more thankful that these first two days back haven't left my bucket completely empty at the end of the day. :)

5 More to break...ramble

I have decided this week, that next year...if I'm still teaching (who knows what the future holds)...I'm going do do a 12 days of Christmas in my classroom. I want to have some sort of Christmas activity each day for the 12 days leading up to Winter break. I have no idea what it will look like. Hopefully, I'll actually follow through. I really don't know how you fantastic teachers come up with units of study. I feel like I'm sinking in common core and testing.

But oh well..

Today, I taught my kids how to make snowflakes...and not the crappy square ones. It took the last 15 minutes of school to do it. I didn't send home folders. We just needed something fun to do. One girl said I was the best teacher ever and then asked for my autograph.

My best friend's brother is dying. He stopped breathing on Monday and hasn't had any brain activity in the last 24+ hours. She lost her mom about a year and a half ago to cancer. Her brother has had health issues all his life, but this is obviously the most serious thing to happen.

I told one of my kids about it today because I've been keeping my phone close during breaks. I told her that my friend's brother was very sick and in the hospital. She said that I need to go get him some vitamins and take them to the hospital so he could get better. How sweet!? I wish it was that easy.

The other day she told me that her head was going to explode with peas. I asked her if she had peas at lunch. She said..."no. Nachos." I laughed. Yesterday she told me her head was going to explode. I asked her with what this time. She says..."uh...lots of little Miss R___'s (my name)". I gave her the strangest look. Ha! I love that kid.

5 more school days to go. We so got this...and will somehow squeeze in a crazy amount of testing!

Getting Back..

I feel like I need to take a step back. I have somehow lost myself.

I question my decision to be a teacher.

Don't misunderstand. I LOVE teaching. When I talk about it with family and friends, I get such passion and joy for what I do. It seems that when I step back into the classroom/school, it gets lost.

I can't keep up with the changes. I am constantly being made aware where MY preparation to be a teacher had massive holes. (Like I never learned what should or shouldn't be included in a small group reading lesson.)

I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to get back to myself. I would honestly love to throw my curriculum out the window for a week to just enjoy learning. Maybe I'd enjoy teaching.

Happy November!

I can't believe tomorrow is our 50th day of school!! Our kids had a FIVE day weekend due to parent teacher conferences and Halloween. We had PTCs on Wednesday evening and all day Thursday. We all got Friday off. Today was a professional development day.

We finished our business centers. Pointless. Our new Superintendent of Elementary-in training is an idiot. Seriously. The only reason he's making us do this stupid stuff is because his school made AYP last year and he can show off. So..if it doesn't work for the rest of us..because our kids are not the same kids he had last year...can we cut the busy work? I know I haven't been doing this a long time, but this is ridiculous. I know that every place has issues. Nobody is like us. My district is so ridiculous sometimes. If my school doesn't get AYP this year, it's for sure going to be handed to us. There's a possibility that the state will step in and we'll all have to reapply and interview with the state. Ugh. I don't even want to think about that.

There's so much stress and tension in the building that it makes focusing on the teaching difficult. As a new teacher, I feel like I'm drowning.

Oh well, right?

I was supposedly groomed to be an urban teacher....to withstand the drama and trials to last longer than most urban school teachers. I'm supposed to go longer than the average turn-over rate. Yah...I'm sure I'm going to go under it. I am too young and too ill-equipped to deal with these pressures. I don't know how anyone can do it with a family. I would quit. Just up and quit.

I love my students. I love teaching them. I love sharing stories and learning with them. I love learning from them. I love opening a new world to them. I love helping them through struggles. I love giving them praise and teaching them how to act appropriately. I love the hugs and pictures.

I would really love to be able to close my door and teach. Maybe that's what I'll work on this quarter.

Still alive..

Much has happened since my last post.

My all-boy student moved (with his family, of course) to Egypt. Not going to lie..that was a blessing from God. I love the boy, but I knew he would be quite the stretch for me. And with my current lack of creativity, passion and motivation, that would have just not been pretty.

I lost two girls a few weeks later. :( Taking me down to 20 students. Twenty is seriously the perfect number for a class. It lasted for like a week and then I got two more..a boy and a girl. And I'll be getting a new boy on Monday. This turnover is ridiculous. It's like never being able to get into a smooth routine. We started really focusing and moving the week we were at 20. This is possibly the worse part of my job. But..we deal and it all works out great. I couldn't imagine my class without these students.

We're currently pushing into the second phase of Vicky Gibson's Differentiated Instruction model. Since when it is it ok to put all your eggs in one basket?

Thankfully, I have an instructional coach that doesn't quite buy all of her ideologies and is willing to support my efforts to be a better teacher for my students. I am starting to explore the idea of flexible grouping in my classroom. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it done or really know the basics of it. (Thanks, University!) I've found some things on the internet and am just going to flesh it out myself. It's a big task to take on, especially 41 days into school. But....it's the first time I've been excited about teaching this year.

We've been asked to do ridiculous things, and the stress from the politics of teaching is really wearing me out. Why am I spending my time making interactive data bulletin boards in the hallway when data is up in the classroom and in student data portfolios and I could be using that time to really look at my data and figure out what my next steps are? Why am I creating a "business center" when all those things are in my classroom just not in the same place? My kids can't read all of that stuff anyways. Seriously? This stuff makes me want to jump ship.

On a positive note...My kids are already showing great academic growth as well as emotional/social growth. We went on our first field trip on Friday. We had a huge amount of parents that came with us. My group ended up being just two boys. And let me say, we may have challenging kids because of us being an "urban" school district, but my kids were so polite and aware of the kids around them. They didn't push to get to the activities that they wanted. They waited their turn and then didn't hog the activity the whole time. I couldn't have been more proud of them.

We have parent teacher conferences the 26th and 27th. Never look forward to them, but I think they'll be fine this year. But I am definitely ready for Christmas break. I wanna see my parents and friends. ha. Oh..the joys of school!